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Actor in a Leading Role:
GEORGE CLOONEY
MICHAEL CLAYTON
Age: 46
Birthplace: Lexington, Kentucky
Essential Filmography: Out of Sight (1998); O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000); Confessions of A Dangerous Mind (2002); Good Night, and Good Luck (2005); Syriana (2005)

"This is about flawed individuals," says George Clooney of the characters that populate Tony Gilroy's corporate legal drama Michael Clayton, in which he plays the titular role, "one of whom sort of comes to the realization that he is looking for redemption, which is always sort of interesting. And decisions that are made based on your own sort of self-interest, and at what point you keep moving that line of morality forward. I think that is always interesting storytelling. And we have done these kinds of films for years, and the reason we do them is that we do suspect corporate America."

Michael Clayton is a "fixer" at a prestigious New York law firm whose primary role in the company is to smooth over any bumps when a member of the practice or a client is in a tight legal spot or compromising political position. Clooney notes that in preparation for the role director Tony Gilroy showed Clooney actual documentation of the ilk that Clayton would have to consider during his illegal clean-up duties for Kenner, Bach, & Ledeen. "There are actual law documents, there were actual interoffice memos of companies that were literally saying from one department to the other, 'If you recall this it's going to cost $300 million dollars,' or 'If you don't, it'll kill three hundred people a year and the class action suit will cost $300,000 and you'll save this many people's lives.' Those were real documents that were passed around. And those documents, to me, informed how I would play the part, because you could justify it by saying you lay off 30,000 people and maybe three hundred die from that. So that's how you justify it."

George Clooney at the Ocean's 13 premiere at Cannes Photo by Matt Carr

Never one to shy away from expressing a strong stance on issues ranging from the current government to the war in Iraq, Clooney here tackles the moral issues confronting the corporate and legal world with the same fearlessness that he tackled American policy in the Middle East in Syriana and McCarthyism in Good Night, and Good Luck. "I grew up in a family that was always involved in some way. My mother was a mayor, my father ran for Congress, so I've always been involved, politically and socially, in issues. Those always weigh on another part of my life."

For Clooney, every Ocean's sequel is a fun romp from location to location with a bunch of actor buddies, but he doesn't deny that it is these blockbusters that allow him to pursue the sort of parts and films that make him passionate about acting and directing: "[Of] the last eight films, I've been paid for two… the rest of them you do for as little as possible because you want to get the movies made. It's not like you're going to get rich off The Good German or Goodnight, and Good Luck or Syriana. You do them because you want to get the movies made. It's okay. I do all right. You know, I am doing fine."

So does Clooney expect a backlash from any corporate or legal entities dissatisfied with the portrayal of their profession? "Well, there are five or six lawyers in the world named Michael Clayton that I've had letters from. They're not thrilled,' he laughs.

By Karl Rozemeyer

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